Denon DP59L turntable
bosell -- Mon, 04/05/2010 - 19:30
I bought a Denon DP59L for $200 from an estate sale two days ago for instant gratification with my newly acquired record collection while I decide on and wait for my turntable of choice. It seems cosmetically and mechanically flawless. It has an integrated Denon "Servo Tracker" tonearm and a AT-OC9ML/II MC cartridge. I was told that the cartridge was played less than 3 hours and the table less than 20 hrs FWIW. I hooked it up to the phono section of a Classe CP-60 preamp that I had laying around.
While the table looks pretty for the price, it sounds bad. It is thin and shrill sounding even with a couple of MFSL 180 gram LP's that I got. Its bass is almost nonexistent and sloppy. However, it renders Morrissey's maxi-single Everyday Is Like a Sunday with surprising air, smoothness and body. I cannot figure it out. While I'm certainly no turntable expert, I think I know the basics of setting up one. Before I exited vinyl, I had an Immedia RPM-2 table and arm and I was instructed how to set it up by the late and great Leo Massi.
Is this turntable:
a. just a really bad table/arm/cartridge/combination that is beyond redemption
b. is there a quick fix to improve the sound dramatically for a couple of months while I get a better piece
or c. am I just missing something obvious and easy with the setup?
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I and others who own the DP-59L are quite happy with its performance. I've used a Denon DL-103D, Benz ACE, Goldring Eroica LO, AudioTechnica AT14SA and a Grado Signature 8M. All of those cartridges sounded terrific. If all you have is the straight arm wand, then you need to really use a higher complaince cartridge, like some of the SoundSmith's. Still, there is at least one gentleman I know who uses a Benz Wood, and he loves the way his DP-59L sounds with the straight wand. I also have the "S" wand as well, and find it matches fine with lower compliance cartridges. Bass has never been a problem, whether I'm using my AES 18 watt single-ended tube monoblocks, or any number of current or vintage amps I own. It's not my only table, and a couple I own are better, but one is a Luxman PD444 which is a legendary table and the other table is a Thorens TD-2010 which is alse one of the best belt drive machines I've ever heard.
If you can set the DP-59L on a Ginko type base, you will notice improvement. The tonearm is much maligned, either for being too complicated or being too cheap. I assure you, it is neither. It's an arm that takes on the issue of cartridge compliance by use of servo controlled dampening. It's actually pretty ingenious, and it was far from cheap. I find it to be an outstanding Direct Drive and one of the better sounding and looking Denon's. They just keep going up in price. You are very lucky to have gotten it for so little.
Have a Denon DP- 57L and have listened extensively to a DP-60L. Never heard any shrillness.....Please re-check the cart. ... Beware that you can adjust the VTA, however ,I suspect the needle or cartilever are the factors causing the thin and shrill. If anything the Denon series from the late 70's through the mid 80's are warmand rich in the mids.....Blotto